The Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative has received $600,000 in funding from the federal Great Lakes Protection Initiative to assist in the development and testing of technology that would intercept and remove phosphorus from agricultural runoff. Phosphorus entering the Great Lakes tributaries, including the Thames River, adds to the growth of harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie and the Thames. This file photograph, of the north shore of Lake Erie, was taken in 2015. (File photo/Postmedia Network)

The federal government has given $600,000 to the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative (PRC), including money to keep phosphorus from running off farmland into Lake Erie.

Phosphorus contributes to the growth of harmful algal blooms in the Thames River and Lake Erie.

“Mayors and farm groups have joined forces to find solutions to algal bloom problems in the Lake Erie basin.” said Mayor Randy Hope of Chatham-Kent and the project’s co-chair.

“We’re thrilled that Minister McKenna has provided the kind of funding that will allow us to move forward with practical, hands-on projects to help farmers and municipalities reduce the amount of phosphorus that’s getting into our creeks, rivers and lakes”.

Beginning this fall, and over the next four years, the PRC will be using the funding to install phosphorus removal technologies and monitor their effectiveness:

at the edge of agricultural fields, and

in municipal drains that collect agricultural runoff.

The PRC will promote the project, the technologies and the phosphorus removal results with farmers, municipalities, Indigenous communities, conservation groups, and drainage professionals in the Thames River Basin, throughout Ontario, and ultimately to other Great Lakes states.

“We are working hard to find and make reliable, affordable technologies available to help farmers in their ongoing efforts to maintain and improve water quality,” said Mark Reusser, co-chair of the PRC and vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

The western basin of Lake Erie has regularly experienced massive algal growth that has impacted drinking water sources in recent years.

The PRC is a voluntary initiative cited in the Canadian Domestic Action Plan aimed at contributing to the commitment made in 2016 between Canada and the U.S. to a 40 per cent reduction in the total phosphorus entering Lake Erie.

On the Ohio side, the governor announced he will soon be spelling out mandatory measures for farms that drain into Lake Erie.